International

A renowned expert on Indian policy visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in October to join discussions on how to best repurpose policies for a sustainable and nutritious future in the world’s most populous country.

The Global Academy, a unique international training program based in College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has kicked off its sixteenth year.

With the goal of increasing the international impact of the participants’ professional work, the selected faculty and staff will spend the remainder of the academic year exploring the topic of sustainable development for economic and social well-being in a global context culminating in an immersion trip to Sri Lanka. 

The members of the 2024-2025 ACES Global Academy include: 

A transatlantic collaboration, the U.S. German Forum on the Future of Agriculture, led by Germany’s Aspen Institute together with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is accepting applications for its third cohort to promote dialogue and policy recommendations towards a more sustainable future for the world. 

To advance collaborations and cooperation between Brazil and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) hosted a distinguished delegation from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa),

Eleven students and five professors from Japan’s Kyushu University visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for two weeks during August to study the intersections of agriculture, the environment, and people in central Illinois. 

As part of the robust program organized by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) Offices of International Programs and Study Abroad and funded by Kyushu, the visitors participated in campus, farm, and industry tours, lectures, and cultural events. 

As part of a prestigious fellowship sponsored by The Norman Borlaug Institute, Molly Boyd, a 2024 graduate from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will spend the next several months working as an agricultural extension agent and teacher in Ghana. 

An interdisciplinary research project has led to new ways of making music and of approaching engineering design through interactions with Indigenous communities in Bolivia and Sierra Leone.

As part of an ongoing effort to integrate international content and experiences into the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) undergraduate curricula, two additional courses are being modified to offer collaborative international learning, facilitated by technology, between students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and students from National Taiwan University and Croatia’s University of Rijeka.

As part of a longstanding, unique training program facilitated by the Office of International Programs (OIP) in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), the members of the 2024 ACES Global Academy immersed themselves in France where they made connections for future collaborations and found inspiration for lifetime engagement in the global arena.

Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to use very small amounts of fertilizer, limiting their crop productivity. A 2016 intervention in Tanzania increased farmers’ fertilizer use and their crop yields. However, a follow-up study from an international team of researchers found the 2016 effects proved temporary, and farmers have since reverted to baseline low rates of fertilizer use and low crop yields.